Tag Archives: irony

Overcoming the Deafening Sounds of Silence

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to think more clearly under pressure. Reading time: 3:22.

The pioneers, circling their horse-drawn wagon trains after riding all day, would beat on pots and pans at night to keep away much more than the wolves.

In the eerie silence, they also had to fight off even more voracious and nefarious wolves. In their minds.

These wolves of the mind, crying in the desolate darkness, gnawed at the hearts and souls of the pioneers with psychological spears more than merely sharp teeth.

These wolves of the mind, moaning and groaning in the vast hinterland, tore at the guts of the pioneers to stomach the overwhelming odds of settling the West.

These wolves of the mind, howling in the isolated blackness and blankness of the night, slashed and scratched at the hopes of the pioneers with a frightening, debilitating vengeance that philosopher Blaise Pascal called a devastating “nothingness.” Pascal observed:

“All the unhappiness of men arises
from one single fact
that they cannot stay quietly
in their own chamber.

‘Nothing is so insufferable
to man as to be
completely at rest
without passions, without business,
without diversions, without study.
He then feels his nothingness, his weakness and his emptiness.”
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Zigging When Everyone Else is Zagging

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you enhance your counter-intuitive skills. Reading time: 3:10.

Your project is spinning its wheels. You’re out of time. Out of money. Out of ideas. And out of patience. Now what? Try zigging whenever else is zagging. Do an about-face. Take the proverbial 180-degree turn. Stop! In order to better GO!

Dick Fosbury high jumps to record height

Need some inspiration to ignite your counter-intuitive creative performance skills? Let’s visit with a couple of Olympic champions to help you shift your creative gears in your competitive drive.

Imagine you’re a high jumper in the Olympics. Your focus has to be on your legs. On your jumping muscles. On your technique to soar over the bar. Legs firsts. Head down.

Yet Dick Fosbury ignited his counter-intuitive creative performance skills and won the Olympic Gold medal in 1968 jumping HEAD FIRST and backwards with this signature Fosbury Flop that revolutionized the high jump. He jumped more than a foot over his 6-foot-4 height to set an Olympic record.

Zig when other zag.

Leaders readily accept and embrace counter-intuitive thinking. For example, leaders know of course that the best way to get out of quicksand is to counter-intuitively lie down. Your body can float on quicksand. You can then roll over to firm ground. Zig when others zag.

And leaders also know- counter-intuitively -that you photograph portraits with a lens capable of shooting from hundreds of feet away-ironically even though the face of the person you are photographing- is only a few feet away. The zoom telephoto lens narrows the field of focus and enriches the quality of the photo. Zig when others zag.

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So You’re Having a Bad Day? Read & Heed !

By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you stay positive in your outlook. Reading time: 1:13

President William Harrison

President William Harrison

Consider this “Reality Show” out of the history books whenever you’re having a bad day.

1. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON caught a cold and died 30 days 12 hours and 30 minutes after he became president of the United States in 1841-the shortest presidential administration in the history of the United States.

2. GENERAL GEORGE PATTON who dodged enemy bullets for many years was killed in a car accident when an army truck ran into his limousine on the day before he was to leave Germany for the United States.

3. GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON of Civil War fame was accidentally killed by his own men.

4. GREEK SOOTHSAYER CALCHAS laughed himself to death, choking while drinking wine.

5. GALILEO, the first man to peer to the heavens through a telescope, died blind. Continue reading →